"With just a pinch of courage, anyone can be a Soldier. With just a
pinch of feeling for others, anyone can be the Messiah. No matter how
you have changed, please don't forget about the others who care about
you. I'll help you!"

"It's finally gone." Mistress Nine's voice was calm and low, but it
carried a overtone of annoyance towards Hotaru's mind.

"Hotaru!" Sailormoon tried calling to her.

"Enough of that! She's not Hotaru anymore!" Uranus shouted.

"She is correct," Mistress Nine said with a faint, malicious
smile, "Tomoe Hotaru has died just now."

"That's not true!" Sailormoon still refused to believe it.

"From within this Tau System, a great power is arriving. It is our
great master of the Deathbusters, the Lord of Silence, Pharaoh Ninety.
Now we just need to have the chalice in our hands, Pharaoh Ninety will
appear in this system, and the Era of Silence will begin."

"Then we'll just have to destroy you now!" Uranus raised her right
fist, converging beams of light above her head.

Water swirled around Neptune's uplifted hands as she said, "Prepare to
die".

Sailormoon looked back and saw the two initiating their attacks.

"World Shaking!"

"Deep Submerge!"

"No!" Sailormoon ran in front of Mistress Nine. She was hit by both
attacks and the force sent her flying toward Mistress Nine, but only
to be stopped by an invisible force field before she could hit the
Messiah of Silence. Mistress Nine did not move.

"How nice of you." Mistress Nine commented with a faint smile.

"You fool!" Uranus could not believe what Sailormoon did.

"Stay out of our way!" Neptune shouted.

Mistress Nine's eyes glowed red. Her long hair which scattered on the
floor suddenly came to life and wrapped itself around Uranus and
Neptune. The two were swung into a giant statue, and the hair around
them melted into the statue.

"If you don't want to see them die before your own eyes, surrender the
chalice." Mistress Nine threatened.

"Don't!" Uranus shouted from high up.

Mistress Nine's hair slipped around Uranus and Neptune's necks. "Maybe
I should get rid of one first." Mistress Nine tightened the grip on
Neptune's neck.

"Wait!" Sailormoon said.

Neptune struggled to shout while being strangled. "If you give the
chalice to her, I'll have no respect for you for as long as I live!"

"But..."

"Don't do it!" Uranus repeated.

"Sailormoon!" Neptune was almost screaming.

After pausing for a second, Sailormoon held her hands out in front of
her.

"No!" Uranus screamed with all her effort.

A ball of light appeared in Sailormoon's hands. Mistress Nine
watched. Her eyes started to widen with the radiance of the light.
She could feel how close she was to the completion of her plan, traces
of excitement showed on her otherwise cold face.

Tomoe Soichi walked slowly out of the darkness with one hand to his
chest, which seemed to be injured, causing him pain. Breathing heavily
with every step, he walked into the middle of the room.

"Hotaru...it's me...it's papa..." Tomoe struggled towards Mistress
Nine, and put his hands onto her shoulders. "It's all my fault...that
it ended up this way..." During all this, Mistress Nine's face
remained stone cold, and she did not even bother looking at Tomoe.

"Germatos' empty shell..." She looked down at Tomoe's face with an
expression of disgust. "How filthy and irritating. Don't touch me!"
She repelled him off her, then picked him up by the neck with her
hair. Tomoe was too weak to even struggle.

"Ho...ta...ru..." He was still calling his daughter's name even as he
was being strangled.

Outside the Mugen Academy building, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus
were maintaining the energy field to keep the Daimons in. The red
Daimons kept up their assault, only stopping inches before them.

"Everyone, hang in there!" Mars called for the others.

On Mercury's side, her barrier was barely keeping the Daimons in.
"They're getting more powerful!"

"It's not going to get through us!" Jupiter was holding on strong.

"We can't let them out!" Venus said, while maintaining her field.

Back inside the building, Tomoe's remaining life was being gradually
strangled out of him. "Ho...ta...ru..."

"Papa..." A weak voice came out of Mistress Nine's mouth. It
surprised the three Soldiers in the room. "Papa..." The same weak
voice slipped out of Mistress Nine's lips again.

"Impossible!" She covered her face with her right hand. Seen between
her fingers, rage filled her eyes.

"Hotaru...?" Sailormoon looked at Mistress Nine with a renewed sense
of hope.

The Messiah of Silence started to feel the flesh rebelling against
her. Her hair lost the grip on Tomoe, Uranus, and Neptune. "This
body...is refusing me..." The pain caused her to fall to her knees.
"This pain..."

"Papa..." Hotaru's voice again drifted in the room.

"Kill her now, Sailormoon!" Uranus shouted from high above.

"No!" Sailormoon said with tears in her eyes. "Hotaru is still alive!"

"Don't be fooled!" Neptune did not feel Hotaru's consciousness could be
of any significant importance at this point. The most important thing
was to eliminate Mistress Nine.

Tomoe crawled over to Mistress Nine on all fours. "Hotaru? Are you in
pain?"

"The chalice..." Pain was making it difficlut for her to get anything
out.

"Chalice?"

"I need the chalice...Without it...I..."

"But where is the chalice?"

"Papa!" Hotaru's consciousness shed traces of light inside Mistress
Nine's darkness. She screamed and stood back up, but couldn't stand
alone without falling over. With a determined look on her face,
Sailormoon held both hands out. Between her palms, a small ball of
light appeared.

From high up on the statue, Uranus and Neptune watched. Disbelief and
frustration almost brought tears to Uranus' eyes. "Why?!"

"You are not the Messiah! You have no right to do that?!" Neptune's
voice was almost weeping.

"Hotaru is still alive. She's alive!" Sailormoon had no doubt she
was doing the right thing. At that very moment, her solid belief she
always carried within burst out in the form of words: "It can't be
true that there is no way to save this world without sacrificing
someone innocent like Hotaru!"

From between Sailormoon's cupped hands shed forth brilliant rays of
light, piercing the darkness of the hall.

"That..." Mistress Nine said, pointing at the light.

"That's the chalice?" Tomoe looked back, seeing what she was
pointing at.

The ball of light started to expand and took the form of the chalice.
With the chalice floating in her hands, Sailormoon walked towards
Tomoe.

Tomoe turned around to Sailormoon and begged: "Please...I need
that to help my Hotaru."

Sailormoon lowered her arms, and the chalice floated away from her
into Tomoe's outstretched hands.

"Thank you." Tomoe said with a weak, but grateful voice. Sailormoon
answered with a smile. Tomoe then hurried back to Mistress Nine with
the chalice. "Hotaru, here's the chalice. Did you want this?"

With a trembling right hand, Mistress Nine reached for the chalice.
The moment she clutched the chalice, blinding light flashed and she
rose to her feet, raising the chalice high up with both hands. She
laughed triumphantly. A force field around her threw Tomoe and
Sailormoon away from her. Uranus and Neptune watched from high above
in despair.

"Sailormoon, when Pharaoh Ninety arrives, I will spare your life by
making you a Daimon vessel." Mistress Nine stood with her arms
crossed, the chalice in one hand.

"Hotaru!? Can you hear me? Hotaru!?" Sailormoon still tried to reach
Hotaru.

"It's useless. No matter what you do, it is all too late now."

"You won't take Hotaru or this world so easily!"

"Give up. This chalice is the crystalization of a pure heart with
love, hatred, happiness, anger and sorrow all at the highest level."
Lightly holding the chalice in one hand, she spoke softly. "To defeat
Pharaoh Ninety after it absorbs this, you will need a crystal which is
even more pure than this chalice." After a brief pause, Mistress Nine
declared: "You do not stand a chance!"

Mistress Nine forced the chalice through the glass of the cylinder
standing in the the middle of all the machines. Accompanying her
laugh, a great power was released. A black pillar of light shot
straight up from the base of the building into the sky through the
star-shaped opening in the force field dome. What remained of the campus
building had begun to disintegrate from the top.

The Daimons trapped inside the barrier suddenly started to attack with
renewed force.

"What!?" Mars exclaimed. The Daimons were about to break through the
force field.

"What happened in there!?" Mercury exclaimed as the Daimons on her
side were also nearly through.

A Daimon emerged partially through the barrier and sank its teeth into
Jupiter's chest. She screamed in pain.

"Sailormoon!?" Venus, in a state of panic, shouted.

The glass cylinder rattled then shattered, revealing the chalice. Then
the chalice shattered. Sailormoon was stunned. The glass dome glowed,
with bolts of energy starting to explode out from the dome one after
another, destroying everything in their path.

"This way, Pharaoh Ninety!" Mistress Nine called to her Master.

A dark, spinning nebula appeared in the glowing dome.

"See? This is the result of your naivety." Uranus screamed at
Sailormoon from atop the stone pillar.

"Moon Cosmic Power!" Sailormoon raised the Spiral Heart Moon Rod and
fired a stream of heart beams into the dome. The stream hit Pharaoh
Ninety, but it had no effect. A single eye on Pharaoh Ninety opened,
and a single ray of dark light shot forth, annihilating Sailormoon's
beam. The large beam shot out of the dome and struck Sailormoon. She
flew back and the Spiral Heart Moon Rod spun out of her hand.

"Now that you can't even do a second level transformation, you have no
way of preventing the Silence. The world for me and my master is
about to begin." Mistress Nine declared her victory. But suddenly, a
concentration of energy formed directly behind her. She turned around,
only in time to see a huge beam blasting out of the dome directly at her.
The beam hit her and she screamed in disbelief. After the energy beam
dissipated, Tomoe was seen on his knees, tightly holding the
unconsicous Messiah of Silence and trying to cover her with his body.
He was unhurt. In front of both of them stood Sailormoon, taking the
full impact from the blast face-on. Barely conscious, she fell to her
knees. She was severely hurt, and breathing very heavily.

The black dome around the remnants of the building spiralled into a
whirlwind and tore down the force fields surrounding it. The four
Guardian Soldiers were carried off the ground, and they drifted
helplessly in the black tornado. Inside the building, a dark,
spherical mass appeared where the glass dome was. Sinister growls
could be heard coming from within.

"I'm sorry...I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Forgive me..." He
closed his eyes and tears flowed out of his eyes. "Only if we can
return to those days... I'm sorry" All the memories of happiness and
sadness he shared with her little girl flashed through his mind.

Tears fell on Hotaru's hand. Her soul was fully revived. She
opened her eyes, and lightly whispered: "Papa..." The face did not
have Mistress Nine's cold, but had Hotaru's warmth.

But suddenly, a black star appeared on Hotaru's forehead, and she
was Mistress Nine again. She screamed and pushed Tomoe away.

"Go away...you insect! Get lost! There's no meaning in your existence
anyway...so don't get in our way!" Mistress Nine had almost lost all
control of the body. She couldn't stand up straight anymore. "Die! Die
now!"

"No! Never!" Hotaru's soul fought the dark consciousness and took
control of the body.

"Damn you!" Mistress Nine struggled to regain control.

"I have...I have...people who mean a lot to me!" The light of Hotaru's
soul exploded inside the body and shattered the darkness. On her
forehead, the black star also shattered, and the sign of Saturn
appeared underneath. The body completely disintegrated, leaving only
the glowing sign of Saturn, which then also faded into nothing.

Uranus and Neptune watched in awe. After the glowing sign of Saturn
faded away, Uranus murmured: "The Soldier of Destruction...has
resurrected..."

Back at Mamoru's apartment, Mamoru was still keeping Chibi-usa alive
by channeling his own life energy into her body. A translucent form
appeared before them. Mamoru looked up and saw her, but could not
comprehend. Artemis and Luna sensed the presence and hurried into the
room. They saw the ghostly form of Sailor Saturn floating just off
the floor motionlessly in the air.

The transluscent image softly said: "Chibi-usa, everything's all
right now." The faint figure further faded into nothing while
floating forward, then reappeared just in front of Mamoru and
Chibi-usa. Sailor Saturn put her hands over her chest. When she
lowered her arms, Chibi-usa's heart crystal was in her hands. The
light of the crystal made the faded figure even more faded. The
crystal floated off her hands and back into Chibi-usa's body.

"Sailor...Saturn...?" Artemis recognized the apparition as the Soldier of
Destruction.

"Hotaru...?" Luna recognized the translucent form as the little girl
who was Chibi-usa's friend.

"Thank you, Chibi-usa. Thank you." Then she disappeared.

In the meanwhile, Pharaoh Ninety was constantly expanding and
growling.

"Pharaoh Ninety is steadily growing in size and power," Neptune said
while looking from high above.

Beside her, Uranus was feeling too hopeless to even look. "We have no
way of stopping the Silence now..."

Suddenly, the ground started to shake like an earthquake. The ground
parted, and everything started to tumble down. The giant statue with
Uranus and Neptune trapped was no exception. The two were freed and
fell to the ground as the statue collapsed. Whatever remained of the
Mugen Academy building was no more. Pharaoh Ninety was exposed and
expanding quickly. All around its black body, buildings were reduced
to rubble.

Uranus and Neptune were hurt from the fall. Much of their suits were
torn in the fall. They slowly got back up on their feet. There
was nothing they could do except to look in despair as Pharaoh Ninety
expanded and destroyed its surroundings in the distance.

"In the end, everything we've done is pointless," muttered Uranus.

"It's over," agreed Neptune.

Between them and Pharaoh Ninety within shouting distance was
Sailormoon. She was on her knees. At this point, even she had lost
all hope and could not get back to her feet.

"Sailormoon...are you satisfied now?" Uranus asked calmly, but there
was no response. "Answer me!" She shouted, but there was still no
response. She fell to her knees and wept.

"Sailormoon..." Sailormoon heard a soft voice calling her name. She
knew that voice. She looked up to find the origin of the voice. In
front of her, the translucent image of Saturn floated down, then
solidified. "Sailormoon, thank you for protecting my body." Saturn
said with a very soft voice. "I am here, thanks to you."

"Hotaru?" Sailormoon recognized the familiar form in the light purple
Sailor Suit. Her feelings were very mixed.

"Hotaru!" The badly hurt professor called to his daughter.

With Tomoe Hotaru's soft, fragile, and warm voice, Saturn said: "I am
not Hotaru anymore. I am now the only one who can save this world from
the Silence. Just leave the rest to me."

"Wait! I'll go with you!" Sailormoon tried to stand back up.

"No. To destroy Pharaoh Ninety, you must do so with a single attack
from within. It may be possible for Super Sailormoon, but now
that you don't have the power of the chalice, you would not even be
able to get inside. This is for me to do."

"When you do destroy Pharaoh Ninety...what's going to happen to you?"

"I am known as the Soldier of Destruction because I have been given
the power to destroy whole worlds," Saturn raised her right arm, and
her Silence Glaive appeared in her hand. "But when I use that power,
even I have no escape."

"No!" Sailormoon tried to rush forward to stop Saturn. Lowering the
glaive in her hands, Sailor Saturn pointed it at her forehead,
stopping her from approaching any further. Sailormoon was stunned by
Saturn's action.

"Good bye" were Sailor Saturn's last words as she leaped backwards into
Pharaoh Ninety. Explosions could be seen inside.

"Hotaru!" Sailormoon cried and ran toward Pharaoh Ninety, but she was
thrown back by an invisible barrier. She fell backwards and rolled to
a stop, face-first on the ground. Sailormoon looked back up. The
feeling of powerlessness almost made her cry in her frustration. With
one hand on the brooch, she called: "Crisis Make Up!" But without the
chalice, there was no effect. After pausing for a moment, she tried
again: "Crisis Make Up!" Still, nothing happened. Not willing to give
up, she tried again and again. Eventually, the droplets of hope turned
into anger. "Change!", she shouted with tears in her voice, and
started pounding the ground with her right hand. Even while weeping,
she kept on trying, although she knew by then that it was pointless.

As the four Guardian Soldiers floated helplessly inside the black
whirlwind, they felt Sailormoon's feelings and whispered:
"Sailormoon..." The gem on their tiaras glowed. Uranus and Neptune
stood behind Sailormoon and watched without saying a word. Her pure,
sincere emotions had touched them. The gem on their tiaras also
glowed.

The crescent moon gem on Sailormoon's tiara changed colour. It cycled
through the colours for her four Guardian Soldiers and the two Outer
Planet Soldiers. Pulling all of her remaining determination and hope
together, she made one last attempt to transform. As loudly as she
could, she yelled: "Crisis Make Up!"

The impossible became reality. A large heart crystal formed in front
of her brooch, and butterfly wings of light grew out of her back. She
leaped and flew towards Pharaoh Ninety. All around her were
butterflies of light.

"Good bye" Saturn's voice was again heard from inside Pharaoh Ninety.
The heart crystal in front of Sailormoon penetrated the energy barrier
around Pharaoh Ninety, and she sank into the black sphere. A
series of explosions began inside. Then, with a dying howl, Pharaoh
Ninety exploded into the sky, leaving behind a large crater in the
ground.

Uranus and Neptune stood staring blankly at the crater, while water
from the bay nearby began filling it. Pluto's voice echoed through
their minds again: "If you find the true Messiah..."

"The true Messiah..." Uranus pondered about the meaning of those
words.

The both of them looked up, and saw a trail of sparkles raining in the
distance. Dancing down from the sky, sparkling butterflies of light gently
fluttered down in the hundreds. Lying on the ground, the four
Guardian Soldiers regained consciousness and saw the butterflies.
Among them stood the silhouette of Super Sailormoon, with her
sailorsuit tattered, and shoulder pads torn. Tousled hair waving in a
light breeze, her eyes were vacant of emotion. In her arms, was
a small sleeping infant. On her face, was a blank expression of deep
sorrow.